Primary Leadership Qualification Course (PLQ) Mega thread

[the 48th regulator]

hmm 12 years instructing in the infantry . . In Meaford. . . . . and Petawawa even.... . whoa

ok I guess the post is legit...

didn't mean to rain on your Parade square..

tess

 

[SigPigs]

I just went on my PLQ in Esquimalt of all places. I am an army guy, a radio tech or LCIS as we are now. Anyway I was taught weapons drill, and written communication was taught very well. Was it extremely demanding, no. But it is better than being treated like  a recruit and yelled at and run around like a bunch of dorks. We were taught about skills we need to succeed in the rank we were given.  Mostly already, as it is back logged. Give us tools to do our leading, and mostly, learning... as you know when you leave school you think you know it all and you really don't know anything. You have the skills to learn more though, and that's what we need.

Andrew

 

[pro patria]

No two PLQ crses are the same, Tp is always changing. Their is always some type of field small party tasks etc

 

[GerryCan]

Laugh My Aise Off (It was so good I had to write it out complete!!!)  Michael dude you have sussed it out man.

this thread should be locked, this is too much like the other of yer posts, pro patria.  Are your really in earnest, or are you trying to see how far you get?

tess

Seems to me that your post isn't too much different than pro patrias... I don't have a clue as to what the hell you just said.

Sussed it out???

 

[elminister]

I must agree with Andrew, it's a learning process and you can't expect nco's to learn to be a leader in the few weeks of their PLQ.

 

[jmackenzie_15]

Making a leadership course easy and less demanding will not produce as good quality leaders as ones that survive the difficult ones.
Is it just me, or does anyone else feel that the Sgts that did their PLQ (JLC or ISS) back 10 years ago, are far more mentally hardened than the ones that have done it in the last few years? Perhaps this is due to experience, but I cant help but feel that if you put someone through a long hard time in PLQ, theyll come out the other end harder and stronger than before, and vice versa.

 

[Sharpey]

My 2 - 5's were not that demanding. Physically yes they were but the actual learning portion has been raped. Wasn't to impressed to be honest. My Mod 6. was extremely demanding in all aspects, but was still directed at Infantry and no other trades really. But I will admit that section attacks are a great command and control learning tool.

But as stated above, no two courses are the same, due to different staff etc... My Mod 6 was the hardest course I've taken in my 11 years, wich is funny as my Mods 2-5 was probably the easiest. With that said, I think Mods 2-5 need to be restructured. More voice culture and learning words of command should be brought back,. if it hasn't been in the last 2 or 3 years.

 

[Franko]

Get rid of this bloody PLQ modular bull**** and bring back the Combat Leadership Course.

That'll sort out the wheat from the chaff.

Getting nights off and not going out to the field for weeks on end....that's not a leadership course....it's a cake walk. I know a few guys on it right now and they get off "work" and get to go home at night. Whatever happened to doing it as a course in house for the entire time and getting it completed in one shot?

6 modules....at home study....last mod taught as a real course. You can't say that every unit has the same standards.

I'm sure that there are some people out there who think the PLQ or whatever it's called is the best thing going....

:

Regards

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Quote,
Getting nights off and not going out to the field for weeks on end....that's not a leadership course....it's a cake walk. I know a few guys on it right now and they get off "work" and get to go home at night. Whatever happened to doing it as a course in house for the entire time and getting it completed in one shot?

6 modules....at home study....last mod taught as a real course. You can't say that every unit has the same standards.

I know I've been gone a long time but are you telling me this replaced the CLC?

 

[Sharpey]

Whatever happened to doing it as a course in house for the entire time and getting it completed in one shot?

They still offer that, 11 weeks at Leadership Coy., Mod 6 of that is 6 weeks in duration.

 

[Michael OLeary]

The Qualification Standard (QS) and Training Plan (TP) for the PLQ can be found here:

http://armyapp.forces.gc.ca/38cbg_arsd/plq.htm

 

[mo-litia]

I agree totally with pro patria - the new systems suck some major ass!

I did my PLQ a couple of years ago; some of the mods at my home unit, the rest at WATC.  Once I hit the ground at WATC, I found out that it was a joint Reg / Res course; but, with a conspicuous absence of RegF Infantry troops.   (Somebody's still trying to look out for their own, and I don't blame them.)           Without fail, all of the RegF troops were CSS,as were a good portion of the ResF troops.

End result? The 20% or so of us who were ResF infantry and spent most of our field phase whipping into shape people who hadn't done a section attack since battle school! Good practise, I suppose, but far from the quality of training I could of received had I been able to work on my leadership skills with a competent section.

Oh yeah, on the last day, this thud of a WOG who had REPEATEDLY FAILED his SMALL PARTY TASKING was reassessed for approximately the third time.  The Sgt pulled together a small party for this troop, (All infantry, incidentally, I was one of them.), and told us that it had come down from higher that it was a NO-FAIL COURSE and that we had to punt this guy through!

Not to detract from the course staff at all, they were doing the best they could; but what the hell?  I joined the CF, worked my ass off to get to a point where I had earned a spot on what was supposed to be a challenging leadership course, and then I find out it's a farce and a cakewalk because higher ups have decided that the CF needs jacks - no matter how unqualified!?!?!?!

Oh, I almost forgot - we had every single weekend off without fail; except for one weekend when we where in the field, and then, if I recall correctly, we got one or two days off the following week to make up for missing our weekend!

I would gladly drop my leaf in a second for a chance at a spot on an old style course where I could get my leaf the old fashioned way - EARNING IT.

Bohica

 

[Bert]

In PLQs, do they mix up Res with Reg, and the different elements like Navy, Air Force, and Army?
If so, is there a difference in "performance" and or "culture conflict" ( don't know
if thats a good way to phrase it) in mixed settings?

 

[mo-litia]

Bert,

See my above post for answers to your questions.  As for mixing of elements my course was all army. Then, the thud mentioned above was ex-Navy, with absolutely no Army training at all. (He had to be shown the bloody C-6 drills because he didn't even know that the belt fed in from the left!!) 

Performance difference; definitely.

Culture conflict; absolutely. You can't mix dog crap with eggs and hope to get a tasty omlette, now can you?

 

[aesop081]

Bert,

See my above post for answers to your questions.   As for mixing of elements my course was all army. Then, the thud mentioned above was ex-Navy, with absolutely no Army training at all. (He had to be shown the bloody C-6 drills because he didn't even know that the belt fed in from the left!!)  

Performance difference; definitely.

Culture conflict; absolutely. You can't mix dog crap with eggs and hope to get a tasty omlette, now can you?

Before generalizing, you should take heed to the fact that alot of us " aiforce pukes" are ex-army guys with a shitload more experience than you ! You want to make fun of one guy, no prob, i can live with that but don't generalize. Its attitudes like that that cretae problems during joint training/ops !

 

[mo-litia]

aesop,

My intent may have been misunderstood . . . that reference to which you, no doubt, took offense to was intended towards the problem troop written about my first post on this thread. I was just venting some steam at the lack of reason and standards, (and the resulting problems), on today's PLQ courses.

As to my experience level, it is exactly where I want it to be, thanks.   Not every member of the Reserves is an aspiring Regular Force troop, remember?

Cheers

 

[aesop081]

aesop,

My intent may have been misunderstood . . . that reference to which you, no doubt, took offense too was intended towards the problem troop written about my first post on this thread. I was just venting some steam at the lack of reason and standards, (and the resulting problems), on today's PLQ courses.

As to my experience level, it is exactly where I want it to be at this time thanks.   Not every member of the Reserves is an aspiring Regular Force troop, remember?

Cheers

Fair enough.....may have jumped the gun but still.

I agree with you that not every reservist is an aspiring reg.......i know reservist with more experience than alot of reags so that is not what i meant.  I thought that you were generalizing and i was applying my comment in your case specificaly.

On my JLC/JNCO we had ppl from alot of different trades, with alot of varying experience and some were better than others.  Should some have failed ? You bet ! Was it a difficult course ? Not in my opinion. Should it be ? Damned right ! As for the guy yopu are refering to not having C6 experience, i ask you this : How could he have ?  I tought a pre-JLC at my unit in 2001 and i had a guy in my section that had not even seen a C7.  When he joined it was with the FN......... He was a medic.

 

[mo-litia]

Fair enough.....may have jumped the gun but still.

I agree with you that not every reservist is an aspiring reg.......i know reservist with more experience than alot of reags so that is not what i meant. I thought that you were generalizing and i was applying my comment in your case specificaly.

On my JLC/JNCO we had ppl from alot of different trades, with alot of varying experience and some were better than others. Should some have failed ? You bet ! Was it a difficult course ? Not in my opinion. Should it be ? Damned right ! As for the guy yopu are refering to not having C6 experience, i ask you this : How could he have ? I tought a pre-JLC at my unit in 2001 and i had a guy in my section that had not even seen a C7. When he joined it was with the FN......... He was a medic.

The guy was an ex-Navy binrat who'd been out for years and re-mustered as Army green. Either he'd never touched the C-6, ( I don't know a thing about Navy training!), or he'd been out so long he'd forgotten everything about it.   Nothing against the guy, just rusty as hell and not really cut out to be a leader of men.  So I see where you're coming from about varying levels of experience.

As to my opinions on the Air Force, let me say this. Taking into account my years of experience as a militiaman, I have only one strong feeling about the Air Force . . . jealousy!  

 

[aesop081]

The guy was an ex-Navy binrat who'd been out for years and re-mustered as Army green. Either he'd never touched the C-6, ( I don't know a thing about Navy training!), or he'd been out so long he'd forgotten everything about it.   Nothing against the guy, just rusty as hell and not really cut out to be a leader of men.   So I see where you're coming from about varying levels of experience.

Is that because of his professional attributes or based on the fact tha he didn't know a thing about the C6 ?

As to my opinions on the Air Force, let me say this. Taking into account my years of experience as a militiaman, I have only one strong feeling about the Air Force . . . jealousy!  

Why ?

 

[mo-litia]

Is that because of his professional attributes or based on the fact tha he didn't know a thing about the C6 ?

See my first posting about his failing repeatedly during the course . . .

Why?

. . . jeez, you try to disarm a guy with a joke, and this happens . . . I'm ending this here, bro, it's gotten too far off topic for me!